Come Play with Me
by Master Metallix
Summary: Cream has found Tails Doll in a park one day, and they attempt to begin a friendship together. But has the Panic Puppet mended his ways, or is he still the vicious harbinger of despair that he was created to be?
1. Playground Prologue

**1. Playground Prologue**

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Author's Note: Before I begin, I would like to express my gratitude to a couple of good friends and fellow authors, Madhog thy Master, Blaze the Vampire, and Dragonlord Pwns All, for all of their help and support while I wrote this first chapter of my first story.

Changes to Chapter 1: An author by the name of Frozen Nitrogen was kind enough to point out that I did not use the same detail to describe Gemerl and certain other things that I did use to depict Tails Doll. I have made a few changes in this chapter to resolve this issue and believe that the rectification of these errors has improved the quality of my work. I would like to express my great appreciation for Frozen Nitrogen, not only for pointing out these flaws so that I could correct them, but for doing so _without_ including insulting "flames" in his review.

Legal Disclaimer: This chapter and all others to be published in the future are works of fiction. All characters and events are the product of the imagination of the author and are not to be construed as being real or having actually occurred. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and unintentional. Sonic the Hedgehog and all related characters, places, and items are the intellectual property of Sonic Team. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders.

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"Hooray, Cheese! Gemerl! Let's go play outside in the park!"

Those were the last words Vanilla the Rabbit heard before her six-year-old daughter ran out the door, Cheese the Chao and Gemerl Type Advance-3 tagging along behind her. She chuckled quietly to herself, happy that her daughter was having fun and behaving herself. She knew that Cheese, a light blue Chao with blond-yellow highlights, a red bow tie, and power that belied its pocket-sized stature, and Gemerl, a black, gray, and yellow battle robot of Dr. Eggman's creation that had been recently defeated by Sonic the Hedgehog and even more easily rebuilt and reprogrammed by Miles "Tails" Prower, would be able to keep Cream out of trouble. All the same, Vanilla had checked the weather report, and after finding that there would be bright sunshine in a cloudless sky for the rest of the day, she allowed Cream to play in the park with her live-in friends for an hour.

Cream, Cheese, and Gemerl left their home in the outskirts of Station Square and made it to the park without incident. They looked around at all of the various slides, jungle gyms, hobbyhorses, and other diversions, and after seeing that they apparently had the park to themselves, they decided to play on the swings. Cream sat down and Cheese perched on her shoulder, while Gemerl pushed her. "Wheee! This is fun, isn't it?"

"Chao! Cha chao!" responded the Chao.

"Wheeeeeee!" repeated Cream, as she swung particularly high and jumped off the swing. She went a little high, flapped her ears to gain a little more altitude, and finished with a stylish back flip before dropping gently to the ground and performing a curtsy.

Cheese flew off of Cream's shoulder and cheered with a "Cha chao! Chao, cha chaaao!" while it and Gemerl clapped their hands together. The Chao then gave her a high-five and a gentle hug, which she happily returned to her miniature companion, and the robot simply watched and waited for Cream to finish. After performing a few more similar swing-jumps and other aerial tricks, she checked to make sure her orange dress was dirt-free and smoothed-out, and the group left the swings to explore the rest of the park.

The two of them continued to play on such amusements as the slides and the monkey bars. Cream laughed a lot while spinning on the merry-go-round, but during Cheese's turn Gemerl accidentally swung too hard for the little creature to maintain its grip and the poor Chao was flung away, resulting in an "Oh my gosh! Are you okay, Cheese?" as she ran to fetch her dizzy companion.

"Choao chaoao..." mumbled the rabbit's dazed buddy while staggering around on the floor, the sunshine orb above its head taking the form of a small spiral larger at the top than at the bottom. Cream swiftly scooped up the cerulean Chao from the ground and apologized while wiping sand off its body and bow tie. Eventually the creature shook its head and the mini-tornado returned to its former shape as a smooth yellow sphere, though he was still mumbling incoherently, "Chaoaaaooo..." Gemerl folded its hands and bowed its head as a gesture of remorse.

"Are you alright, Cheese? I'm sure Gemerl didn't mean to swing so hard! Can you forgive him?" beseeched the sand-hued rabbit of her miniature playmate. Eventually, the Chao's eyes focused on Cream, and Cheese soon smiled and gave her as best a hug as it could with its tiny arms. Cream managed to smile, too. Gemerl walked forward and hugged them both, careful not to injure them with his golden elbow and knee spikes, and they were all immediately reconciled; they could never be angry at each other for long. "Maybe we should go home now. I told Mother we'd only be here an hour while she cooks dinner."

"Chao!" Gemerl nodded its assent.

"Okay, guys! Let's go home!"

And with that, they turned away from the swings and merry-go-round and everything else and began to leave. Just as they were at the edge of the park, however, they heard a peculiar sound that made them stop and turn toward the sports ground.

"Broooo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo... broo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo..."

"Cheese, Gemerl, what's that? It sounds like someone's crying!"

"Cha chao..." responded the Chao.

The three ran toward the playing field to see if someone was hurt. They reached the edge and looked, but no one was in the field. Gemerl positioned itself to stand guard and make sure no strangers approached them, and Cream kept looking across the ground, but Cheese was the first to spot the source of the sound. "Chao! Cha chao!"

"Broo-hoo-hoo... roo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo..."

They looked up at the bleachers that lined the field. At the top and right corner of the stands, sitting backwards in the seat, hunched over and sobbing, was an orange and white figure, and two stiff tails could be seen sticking out from the bottom of its back.

"Look, Cheese!" spoke the rabbit to her companion. "It's Tails, and it looks like he's upset! Let's go cheer him up!" All three of them ran up the bleachers, the rabbit's and robot's shoes clanging against the aluminum stairs, to comfort Cream's friend. They quickly reached the top and ran towards the lone figure, but once they reached it, Cream saw that this was not the same two-tailed fox that had rebuilt Gemerl.

"Broo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo... huh?" the stranger choked out haltingly, stopped shaking (or at least slowed the shaking somewhat), and turned its head to face its audience.

This was not Tails... though there was a moderate resemblance. This person - if it was indeed a person - was orange, with two arms, two legs, and two tails. It had a short white muzzle, a patch on its chest was white, white tipped both of its tails, and its... hands... were also white. But there the similarities ended. Its "fur" was actually a covering of felt, with cotton forming the white sections. The shoes on its feet (or were they its actual feet?) were red, with a single white stripe running across the center of each - not unlike the design of Sonic's shoes. The hands had no fingers, and in place of fingers the edges of its round hands had cross-stitches running along the borders. Its mouth appeared similarly stitched closed, begging the question of how its sobbing was so enunciated. The nose was a mere round stone of plastic, and the eyes were simply circles of black polyester sown onto larger circles of white cotton, with no discernible eyelids. And the greatest difference was perhaps the most obvious: a red octahedral crystal, approximately two-thirds the size of Cheese's head, was connected to the being's forehead via a thin gray wire of about five inches. The crystal, wire, and felt skin appeared to connect to each other seamlessly, as though fused together on the molecular level, so that one could not tell where each ended or where the others began. Overall, its appearance seemed to be that of a stuffed toy modeled in caricature of the person whom Cream had first believed it to be.

"You're not Tails! Who are you?" asked the surprised rabbit girl. At the tone of her voice, Cheese and Gemerl moved forward to protect their friend should it prove necessary for them to do so.

The being gave the appearance of having slightly calmed, though it was still trembling and sniffling a little. It answered Cream's question in a high-pitched, faintly mechanical voice, its words broken by held-back gasps and sobs.

"I-I... rrrhh-rrrhh-rrrhh... I'm ca-called... rrrhh-rrrhh... Ta-Tails Doll..."

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Author's Note: This is my first story, and I hope I got off to a good start. Please leave a review and tell me what you think. Any constructive criticism or other suggestions that could help me to improve my ability as a writer, both in this story and in others which I plan to publish in the future, would be greatly appreciated. I accept reviews from other FF-dot-net authors and unregistered users alike but reserve the right to delete anonymous reviews at my discretion (for example, if they contain only insults or other content not related to my story or authorial talent). Goodbye for now, and see you next chapter.

Best regards,

Master Metallix


	2. A New Friend?

**2. A New Friend?**

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"Tails... Doll?" asked Cream, somewhat nervous about this talking toy that looked so much like her friend. "Why do you look like Tails? And why are you crying?"

The doll answered haltingly, its voice still mangled by whimpers. "I've-I've hear-rrd of this... th-this 'Tails' g-guy before-ore... Rrrhh-rrrhh-rrrhh... May-maybe I look-kh like hi-him, I don't know-oh-oh..."

The rabbit girl noticed an oddity about the unfamiliar toy. Its mouth was stitched closed, yet it was speaking normally... or at least, in a manner normal for living beings; the voice detectably emerged from within its sealed muzzle, without any apparent problems in pronunciation other than those caused by its anguished state. She couldn't help but ask why this was so. "Umm... How can you talk with your mouth tied up like that?"

It jerked its head up at her, causing Cream to flinch, and abruptly turned away and responded with a much angrier tone, "If you're just gonna be mean, then get away from me and leave me alone! Rrrgh!"

"Chaa?" Cheese was unused to hearing such accusations leveled at its best friend. Gemerl approached further still, arm-blades at the ready, as soon as this puppet raised its voice at the girl under its watch.

Cream gasped when she realized she had upset this "person" even more than it already was. "I'm so sorry, Mister Tails Doll! I didn't mean to hurt your feelings! I'm sorry."

"Hmph. Fine. Now leave me be."

She didn't want to leave the poor doll alone with its troubles, however, and knelt down beside Tails Doll, smoothing out her orange dress so her knees wouldn't pin the hem to the bleachers they were standing on, before repeating her earlier question in a more contrite voice. "Why are you crying? Are you alright? Can I help you with something?"

It started shaking again before answering, "No one can help me. No-oh one..."

"Why not?"

Cheese, having calmed after the doll's outburst, followed with an inquisitive "Chao, chaao?"

Tails Doll lowered its head and began to weep once more as it answered, "I wa-was thrown away-ay! N-Now I'm all alo-o-one!" No tears were dripping from its fabric eyes, though its shaking and blubbering were obvious signs of great distress.

The rabbit girl inspected the shivering puppet. It didn't look damaged or torn, and there were no drawings or marks of any kind on its surface. To the child's mild surprise, it wasn't even dirty; not a speck of mud or dust was visible on the living (was it?) toy. It suddenly lifted its head again and caught her expression. "Wh-why are you staring at me like that? A-Are you gonna keep insulting me?" Its tone shifted between sentences from that of suspicion to a hint of a lament.

A considerable amount of empathy mixed with the curiosity in Cream's voice as she wondered aloud, "Who could want to throw you away? You're not broken or anything; you seem like you could be a good friend when you're not upset, and it looks like whoever did that to you made you really sad!"

A momentary pause preceded its reply of, "I don't know why I was thrown out!" Despite the fact that it retorted in an almost biting manner, Tails Doll's voice had lowered in volume, as though slightly soothed by the rabbit girl's compliments.

Cream looked thoughtful for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Well, since you're not broken or anything, why don't we take you home? Then you won't be alone anymore! Right, Cheese, Gemerl?"

"Chaaao!" Her cheerful blue friend agreed. The dark machine remained still, its fluorescent cyan eyes never leaving the "stranger" that they were talking to.

Tails Doll looked from the rabbit girl in the simple tangerine-colored dress, to the sky-blue Chao hovering over her shoulder, then to the jet-black robot covered with golden spikes, before finally answering Cream's question with, "What? But... but I don't know any of you, and you don't know me. Who are you?"

The rabbit looked surprised; in her haste to discover the cause of the suffering of this being that bore such a resemblance to a friend of hers, she had inadvertently forgotten her manners.

"Oh, I'm sorry! My name is Cream the Rabbit, this is my best friend, Cheese..."

"Chao!" Cheese waved a tiny hand at the puppet.

"...And this is Gemerl!" she indicated the robot, which answered the introduction by placing one hand on its stomach, the other behind its back, and leaning forward in a polite bow before resuming its former stance.

"Gemerl?" echoed the doll. "Umm... aren't robots made by Dr. Eggman? Why haven't I seen that one before?"

"Huh? Oh, Gemerl was built by Dr. Eggman, but Tails fixed him, and now he's good!" Her face turned suddenly wary. "But how do you know Dr. Eggman? And why should you have seen Gemerl before?"

Tails Doll stopped for a moment, realizing its error, and turned away and looked at the stands before responding in a very small voice, "Uhh... Not that I'm proud of it or anything, but... uhh... Eggman made me, too."

This news visibly shocked the girl, and she gasped and stepped backward. "You were made by Dr. Eggman?" Gemerl and Cheese moved closer still to the speakers.

The doll felt the rejection in her voice, and began to sob again. "Y-yes-s-s... Fhhh-fhhhooo-hoo-hoo..."

Cream looked closely at the doll again. "But you don't seem like a bad person... You're not hurting anyone right now..."

"May-maybe that's why he wanted t-to get rid of me... I'm not evil, really! I can be good, I promise!"

"Well, if that mean doctor threw you away just for being good, then you can stay with us!"

Tails Doll stopped trembling and crying, and rotated to face them once more. "Do you... do you really mean it?"

"Of course! Look at Gemerl." She motioned once more toward the machine, whose tri-pointed forehead spike gave its face the form of a never-ending frown. "He used to work for Eggman too, but Tails fixed him, and now he's a good guy. Just like you, right?"

"Chao!"

Gemerl remained motionless and made no response of any kind.

Tails Doll looked at Cream again and saw the sincerity in her eyes. All of a sudden, the doll popped up and wrapped its arms around the rabbit girl and almost yelled, "Thank you! I promise I'll be really good and you'll like me a lot! Thank you so much! Thank you thank you thank you thank you _thank you_!"

Gemerl rapidly stepped forward as if to push the doll away from the girl, but Cream hugged the puppet back and said, "You're welcome!" Seeing that its charge was not protesting against the doll's contact, the mechanical protector lowered its arms and assumed a more neutral position. Cheese floated over and tried to hug both its friend and the "new toy."

Cream hesitated for just a second longer, having again found something out of place. "Mister Tails Doll, are you flying?"

The doll in question looked downward and saw that its shoes (feet?) were hovering about three inches above the metal stands.

"Oh, that... that's normal, I guess. It's so I don't get dirty by walking on the ground! Look!" It proceeded to rise upwards through an imperceptible method, much to Cream's and Cheese's awe, and do a few front flips and cartwheels before spreading its arms and bowing like a magician.

Cream applauded and cheered. "Wow! You can fly, just like Cheese! Maybe you can play together sometimes!"

"Chao, chaaao!" agreed the sky-clad imp.

"Sounds good!"

Gemerl abruptly moved towards them and tapped the rabbit girl on the shoulder. When she turned, the metallic guardian tapped its wrist, as though reminding Cream of the time.

"Oh my gosh, it's getting late! We'd better go home!"

"Oh-okay!"

And the three friends, plus one more, left the park to go back home.

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It was not a very long walk from the park to Cream's house. They lived near the beach, and houses were more widely spaced than in the suburbs around Station Square. There were wide patches of grass around the path they took, along one of the few roads that intruded into the natural beauty of the coastal area. After about five minutes, they reached the rabbit's home with absolutely no trouble.

"Wow..." spoke Tails Doll, in awe of the scene in front of it.

The Rabbit residence stood in front of the coastline to create the most wonderful view in the area. A one-story house with its outer walls painted pink, the windows framed in white, and a red, slanted tile roof awaited the return of its inhabitants and their newfound companion, all surrounded by a small stone hedge topped with bushes sprouting a variety of brightly colored flowers. A single tree rose near the edge of the backyard, its leaves quite bushy and causing its top to look as round as a tomato, and not far off was placed a small, simple round table surrounded by three wooden chairs. If one looked behind the house, they could see the sunlight gleaming on the surface of the ocean. All in all, it was quaint, friendly, and picturesque.

"Here we are! Home sweet home!" spoke Cream in her usual bright voice. "Let's go inside and have dinner!"

"Chao chao!" answered Cheese, before flying towards the door.

Cream was halfway to the door, when she turned back and saw that Tails Doll had not moved. "What's wrong?"

The puppet responded with a voice filled with wonderment, "This... th-this is the most beautiful building I've ever seen! It's amazing!"

She looked surprised, and responded, "Huh? It's just my house. We see it every day."

"Maybe, but it's still so beautiful! It's so much better than anything Eggman ever made."

The rabbit's cheeks turned slightly pink at hearing such a compliment for the house she had lived in her whole life, but answered, "Thank you, Mister Tails Doll!"

It raised one hand and brushed it on the back of its head, as if it was embarrassed, before speaking. "Umm... you're welcome, Cream, but... uh... why are you calling me 'mister?'"

She looked surprised for a moment and asked it, "Huh? You're not a 'mister?' But then..." A gasp escaped her and her blush deepened as she almost yelled, "You're a girl doll?"

"Chaaaaoo?"

Tails Doll's head snapped up, and it raised its hands and waved them wildly in front of its face. "What? No! Noooo! I'm a boy... uh, I mean, I'm a doll! Just a normal doll! It's just that..." The puppet stopped for a moment, tilted up its head, and lowered it again while making an exhaling sound before it continued, "the 'mister' is for grown-ups, isn't it? I'm only two and a half! So no 'mister,' no 'missus,' just call me plain old everyday 'Tails Doll.'"

The girl's face slowly returned to its usual sandy color, and she managed to reply, "Oh... okay, Tails Doll!"

And with that settled, they walked over to the door and knocked. After the sound of footsteps approaching the entryway reached their ears (well, Cheese and Gemerl lacked "real" ears, but they heard perfectly well anyway), a soft and soothing voice similar to Cream's answered, "Who is it?"

Cream responded brightly, "Mama, it's us! We're home!"

Her Chao buddy accompanied her with a high-pitched, "Chaaao!" from the girl's shoulder.

The door opened, and Tails Doll caught its first glimpse of its savior's mother, Vanilla the Rabbit. She looked like an older (though no one would ever think she was _old_) version of her daughter, down to the round face, long ears, and air of polite kindness. Even the fur color patterns were nearly if not totally the same, though the fur on her crown grew into human-like bangs over her eyes. Vanilla's exterior only differed significantly from her daughter's in their attire: the mother wore an ankle-length lavender dress with a wine-red vest atop her chest, an orange ribbon tied identically to Cream's light blue one, and scarlet high-heeled shoes with a yellow stripe across the instep. Cream's mother carried herself with an air of refinement and gentility, though anyone could tell by looking at her that, far from being haughty or callous, she had a warm and caring heart for everyone.

Vanilla leaned downward and hugged her daughter tightly. "Cream! You're back! And Cheese and Gemerl, too!" she added, smiling at the Chao. "Did you have fun at the park?"

"Yes, Mama! We had lots of fun! We played on the swings, the slides, the merry-go-round..." The rabbit girl continued to describe the events of the past half hour. "...And we found a new friend! Look!"

Her mother looked past Cream and the others and finally noticed Tails Doll hovering behind them. "Who is that... a plush toy? Why does it look like your friend, Tails? And... how is it floating like that?" Her tone slowly turned suspicious as she spoke.

"Mama, this is Tails Doll. We found him crying in the park because he was thrown away."

Vanilla's voice grew even more doubtful as she asked her daughter, "Crying? Dolls can't cry, dear."

"This one did! He can talk, too! Go ahead, Tails Doll!"

The floating doll moved closer, placed one hand behind its back, extended the other in front of it, and bowed respectfully while introducing itself. "Hello, Miss Cream's Mom. My name is Tails Doll. Can I be your daughter's friend?"

Its host looked surprised.

"You... you really can talk? And fly? Where did you come from?"

It lowered the arm behind its back to its side, and rubbed the back of its head with the other in apparent embarrassment. "Umm..." The doll looked at Cream for a moment, made a sighing sound, and turned back to Vanilla before saying, "A man named Dr. Eggman made me, but he threw me out, and now I have no-"

"Dr. Eggman?!" At the mention of that name, Vanilla grabbed Cream and pulled her and Cheese through the door. Gemerl sensed urgency in the situation and followed its masters inside, closing and locking the door behind them.

Tails Doll couldn't even finish its sentence. The look on Vanilla's face when it had spoken the name of that villain had said it all. It was not welcome into their family. The doll took one last look at the door, then turned away and let itself sink to the ground, burying its face in its fingerless hands and sobbing just as fitfully as before.

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Author's Note: I would like to thank Frozen Nitrogen for his efforts in beta-reading this chapter, and in suggesting improvements to the previous one, as his opinions have provided me with invaluable assistance in the refinement of my plans for this story.

I calculated Tails Doll's age at two and a half years old in this manner: Sonic R for the Sega Saturn (Tails Doll's game of origin) came out in 1997 in Japan and 1998 outside Japan, and the Sega Saturn was discontinued in Japan in 2000; that gives Tails Doll between two and three years of age.

I apologize for the delay in my submission of this chapter. In addition to having endured the glitch that prevented most if not all users from entering their FF-dot-net accounts and submitting their works, I have recently installed a new anti-virus and anti-spyware program which should resolve or alleviate my computer problems; this should allow me to work on and publish subsequent chapters on a more frequent basis. Hopefully, I will be able to update approximately bi-weekly as I complete my work, and I am grateful to my readers for their patience in waiting for me. Goodbye for now, and see you next chapter.

Best regards,

Master Metallix


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